1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a game machine system for use at home to enjoy various games presented by game software information generally called television games or computer games, and to a server device, a game executing device, and a display device used in the game machine system, and also to a game usage method which allows a wide variety of games using the game machine system.
2. Description of the Related Art
Among various home-use electronic devices, game machines are becoming increasingly popular. A typical game machine executes a game in accordance with game software information stored on a storage medium such as a CD-ROM (compact disk ROM) or a DVD (digital video disk) wherein a game image is displayed on a television receiver connected to the game machine in accordance with a control command issued by a user thereby allowing the user to enjoy the game.
The various kinds of game software information provided via a storage medium such as a CD-ROM or a DVD includes a game control program and display data used to form a game screen in accordance with the game control program. Typically, the game machine is made up of a main part and a control unit. The main unit includes a drive of a storage medium such as a CD-ROM or a DVD, a CPU, a ROM, and a RAM and serves to execute a game in accordance with game software information stored on a storage medium. The control unit is usually called a game controller and servers to input a command given by a user.
In accordance with a game control program which is read from the storage medium and executed, and in response to a command given by the user via the control unit, the main unit of the game machine generates a game image using image data included in the game software information. The game image is supplied to a monitor device such as a television receiver connected to the main unit of the game machine and is displayed thereon. Thus, the user can enjoy the game.
By replacing the storage medium such as a CD-ROM on which game software information is stored with another storage medium, it is possible to enjoy various games such as role-playing games, action games, and simulation games. Thus, game machines are now widely used at home by a large number of users.
Game software information is generally supplied in the form of a software package in which game software is stored on a storage medium such as a CD-ROM or a DVD. Therefore, game machines are necessary to have a drive for reading game software information stored on a storage medium. This results in an increase in the cost of the game machines.
Therefore, to enjoy a game supplied in the form of game software information at home, a user has to buy an expensive game machine and a storage medium on which desired game software information is stored. Furthermore, to enjoy various different games, it is necessary to buy a large number of storage media on which game software information is stored.
As described above, the problem for users who want to enjoy games at home is that it is necessary to buy an expensive game machine and storage media including game software information stored thereon. Thus there is an increasing need for a game machine system which allows users to easily enjoy games at lower cost.
One possible technique to meet the above requirement is to connect a game machine to an external server via a communication network such as the Internet so as to obtain game software information stored in the server by getting access thereto. This makes it unnecessary for home-use game machines to have a drive of storage medium such as a CD-ROM or a DVD, and thus a reduction in the cost of game machines can be achieved.
However, the transmission capacity of communication networks is generally low. This makes impossible to display game images including quick motions at a desirable high speed, and thus users cannot sufficiently enjoy games. Another problem is that it is necessary to maintain the connection of the communication line between the game machine at home and the external server device, and thus an expensive communication cost is required.